A Step Up to the ICU

Around 3:30 this morning, Joe woke up having extreme difficulty breathing. He couldn't maintain adequate oxygen saturation (in the 90's), even with 95% oxygen.  The decision was made to move him to the ICU and he had a temporary breathing tube and 2 blood lines inserted without problems. This is a good place for him to be.  With the breathing tube, he's able to breath effectively with lower oxygen percentages (he moved down quickly to 50% with this more effective apparatus).

FYI, I turned on comments on the blog.

Thanks for your support and positive rays!

Healthcare up close and personal. Joe's in the hospital.

Joe's in the hospital getting treatment for serious pneumonia.  Doctors advise against visitors at this time so that he can rest and get the treatment he needs.  You can send silly (or not so silly) cards to the house, which I'll happily deliver.  He was admitted Friday, Oct. 24th due to shortness of breath and other symptoms. It's been a very frustrating week of negative test results and no plausible hypothesis.  That changed a few minutes ago when a wonderful Bone Marrow Transplant resident, who has been tracking Joe's case, and her advisor came to Joe's room to propose a hypothesis based on a suppressed immune system from the 2010 transplant.  We will have confirmation in a couple of days if the results of the culture sent to Mayo Clinic come back positive. But, they're starting treatment asap to make up for lost time.  We are definitely not out of the woods; Joe will likely be here for weeks. Since Joe's fan club is so big, I'll keep you up to date through blog entries. Please send continuous positive rays for a complete and speedy recovery.  Thanks!

Gone Fishin'

Well, the docs kicked the steroids and immunosuppressants up a notch and that damped down the rash and improved Joe's energy level. There's no other evidence of GVHD from all the tests they put Joe through recently. We need to be on guard for guerrilla war tactics of Joe's little army of cells sneaking out of the bushes to fight the donor cells for territory as we go through the tapering process.

But, we'll fight this with meds, food, wine, comedy and camping. We enjoyed a truly splendid dinner with friends at a local restaurant this week. Joe's cooking up chicken with fresh ingredients he bought at the market today.

In this entry, I'd like to announce that I will NOT be running for president and Joe's Gathering Blog will be going on indefinite sabbatical. There's a lot of research to be done in the realm of medieval warfare and art history, so we'll be focusing on that, not to mention hanging out at the neighborhood pool.

Thank-you for all your support, positive thoughts, and medicinal silliness. Keep it coming. You know where to find us, both electronically and in the real world. Drop us a line anytime.

Have a great summer!
Cheers!

Not the End of the World

Joe got some more tests and we've got another appointment this week. The rash has returned :-( but it's not the end of the world http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hJQ18S6aag&feature=youtu.be

Our Lady of Fa-tee-gue

Oh, sorry, that's Our Lady of Fatima. But, this fatigue (or FA-TEE-GUE as my dad used to say) is for the birds. That's basically what we told the doc this week. He prescribed some "topical" steroids that are taken internally, believe it or not, since he doesn't want to increase the systemic steroids that we're trying to taper, taper, taper. If this doesn't help, we'll do some extra tests. Joe still looks good on paper, which is a good thing. Other good things include the occasional sunshine we're getting in between the clouds and rain showers and the neighbor's beautiful pink weeping cherry tree. Come on Spring! You can do it!

Keepin' On Keepin' On

Joe's still feeling a bit blah and an occasional lab value will stray from the expected, thumbing its nose at us. But, we're getting to the market and the dog park each week. We saw a nice little exhibit on mid-century modern architecture followed by lunch at the new Cuban-inspired restaurant. This week we have plans to meet friends for dinner, check out a lecture on mammoths and ... ta da ... plan our upcoming camping trips. Take that, you nasty weather!

Looks Good on Paper

Joe looks great on paper (he always does). His labs are great, his platelet count is in the normal range. He still feels a little blah, though. Not uncommon at this stage. Of course, this being tax season, I think we're all feeling a little blah. Joe looks so good on paper that we don't need to see the doc again for another two weeks. Don't even need to have blood drawn for labs in between visits. We usually go to Angelo's after those brief lab visits. We'll just have to push ourselves to go out for breakfast anyway. Happy Spring Showers!